Plane makes emergency landing on New York highway

A small plane has made an emergency landing on a US interstate highway in the New York borough of The Bronx.

The single-engine Piper PA-28 touched down on the Major Deegan Expressway on Saturday afternoon after maintenance workers repairing potholes stopped traffic to leave the road clear.

None of the three on board suffered serious injury, local media say.

The plane is thought to have suffered some kind of engine failure, officials said.

'Sliding to a stop'

The plane had taken off from the city of Danbury in Connecticut for a flight around the Statue of Liberty, according to officials.

It was said to be on its way back when it experienced engine problems.

A team of New York City Department of Transportation workers, who were mending potholes in the carriageway, stopped traffic after noticing the plane in distress, clearing the road for the emergency landing, a spokesman for the department said.

The Piper PA-28 avoided traffic as it landed on the Major Deegan Expressway

Paul Collado told the BBC he was driving on the opposite side of the road when he saw the crash.

"I saw the plane literally land 10ft away from me as I was driving on the opposite side. I couldn't believe what I was seeing," he said.

"I didn't see any smoke. I just saw it sliding to a stop on its belly, not on the landing carriage."

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said it was "a bit of a miracle" that nobody was seriously hurt or killed, the Associated Press reported.

He added that emergency workers were removing the plane's fuel and there was no fire or gas leak.

Photos taken by bystanders showed blue and white plane largely intact, although its landing gear appeared to have collapsed.